Valve Releases Windows Audio Drivers for Steam Deck

The Steam Deck has been given audio drivers for Windows. That means the internal speakers and 3.5mm audio output of the Valve handheld will now work in the Microsoft operating system.

Audio output was already possible when Windows was running on the Steam Deck, but that required a workaround: audio-out via bluetooth or the usb-type-c output. Now the more standard outputs should work under Windows. The Verge writes that Valve is “blaming AMD for the delay.” Valve doesn’t say it explicitly, but in all likelihood these will work drivers on both Windows 10 and 11.

Valve still had some work to do in the context of Windows compatibility after the first deliveries of the Steam Deck. In March it came with drivers for the gpu, wifi and bluetooth. Support for fTPMwhich is required for Windows 11, came next.

While users won’t have to wait to install Windows on the handheld, dual-booting on the Deck is not yet officially supported by Valve’s proprietary software. That would make it easy to have an installation of SteamOS and Windows at the same time and choose which operating system to boot at startup. That functionality will be introduced in SteamOS 3 when it’s finished. There’s no timeline for that.

The Steam Deck regularly gets new features. It was recently added that a frame rate limit and screen refresh rate can be set per game for better battery life. In addition, better support for apps with multiple windows and a lock screen added.